Carolina López, PhD

Dr. Carolina B. López’ laboratory seeks to understand how respiratory viruses interact with their host with a focus on identifying viral and host factors that drive the development of antiviral immune responses important for control of virus replication and dissemination. Work from her laboratory has revealed that non-standard forms of viral genomes, which accumulate naturally during infections, are fundamental components of RNA viruses and play a critical role in determining the outcome of their infections. Non-standard viral genomes of the copy-back type are replication defective in the absence of complementation by standard viral genomes. The López laboratory has established that copy-back viral genomes induce robust antiviral immunity in response to infection with viruses carrying a single negative sense RNA genome, including the important human pathogens respiratory syncytial virus and parainfluenza virus. Moreover, the López laboratory discovered a molecular motif that confers strong immunostimulatory activity to copy-back viral genomes and has created a synthetic oligonucleotide containing this motif, called DDO, that can drive the generation of protective immunity when included in mRNA vaccine formulations and when combined with inactivated viral vaccines. In addition, the López laboratory seeks to discover determinants of acute and chronic respiratory virus pathogenesis that could be targeted to ameliorate the burden of viral diseases. In this area, the laboratory has contributed to the understanding of how paramyxoviruses persist in the respiratory tract and the impact of persistent respiratory viruses on the development of chronic lung pathologies.

Dr. López is a Fellow of the American Society for Microbiology and a US Fulbright Scholar. Dr. López is a Fellow of the Professional Mentoring Skills Enhancing Diversity Program funded by the NIH-National Research Mentoring Network and she is currently a member of the Advisory Committee for the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Investigators in the Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease program.